Gujarat HC denies bail to man facing charges of rape, conversion

Ahmedabad (Gujarat)[India], May 18 : The Gujarat High Court has rejected a bail application from a man charged with blackmailing, rape, sexual assault, extortion, and forced conversion.
The Gujarat High Court Judge in his judgement regarding the bail plea of the accused accepted the fact that the accused projected himself as a man from a different religion by hiding his real identity from a married lady and ultimately, after trapping her in his love, blackmailed her and forced her to convert to Islam.
Justice Nirzar Desai denied the bail plea, stating that the case was far from being a simple love affair, as suggested by the defendant's advocate.
According to the application, the accused Nasir Hussain Mohammadsalim Ghanchi had allegedly posed as one 'Samir Prajapati' while visiting a spa at Vastrapur.
The complainant, a married spa worker who has two children, stated that Ghanchi obtained her personal information under the pretence of referring additional clients.
"The accused regularly visited the Spa and took services only from the victim and slowly trapped her by taking her to a guest house and having physical relations with her and videographed the whole act. The accused also used to take cash from the victim about Rs 10,000 and used to transfer 2000-2500 in her bank account or Gpay it to her in an attempt to keep evidence that she is a sex worker and he is paying her for her service," the complaint said, adding that "During this time the victim got to know that the real name of the accused is Nasirhussain Ghanchi and not Samir Prajapati."
As per the complaint, the accused with the help of his wife Rupa Rana and four others blackmailed her, extorted money from her and forced her to marry Samir Prajapati (Nasirhussain Ghanchi) and convert to Islam.
Rupa Rana, the alleged wife of Nasirhussain Ghanchi also persuaded the victim to convert to Islam stating that she herself has converted and that it does not matter and in fact, she would be freed from the torture once she accepts Islam, it added.
The victim did not budge and hence accused along with two other men gang-raped her and even inserted a rod inside her privates.
However, tortured by all this the victim drank a bottle of phenyl and tried to commit suicide but was saved and later with the help of Hindu Jagran Manch the accused was able to file an FIR in Vastrapur police station of Ahmedabad.
FIR has been registered against Nasir Hussain and others under sections 376 (D), 376 (2) (N), 506 (2), 323 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3 (2) (5-a), 3 (1) (w) (i), 3 (1) (w) (ii) of Prevention of Atrocity Act and trial will start soon.
After the chargesheet was filed, the accused in the sessions court filed a bail plea which was rejected and hence the accused moved to the High Court and filed for bail which was also rejected.
High Court Judge Nirzar S Desai in his judgement on the bail plea of the accused Justice Nirzar Desai said, "I have heard learned advocates for the parties and perused the record. On perusal of the record, I found that this is not just a simple case of a love affair as was projected by a learned defence advocate. Here is a case when the allegation against the accused (present applicant) is that he projected himself as a man from a different religion by hiding his real identity to a married lady and ultimately, after trapping her in his love, blackmailed her and forced her to convert to Islam."
Justice further added, "When she resisted, she was beaten and blackmailed also. As the contents of the FIR and various statements are narrated in detail, without further discussing the evidence, on perusal of papers, this Court finds that even co-employee Anjali (who worked in Spa with the victim) in her statement has stated that the present applicant has hidden his identity and projected himself as Samir Prajapati. If the intentions of the present applicant were clean, in that case, he would not have hidden his real identity. As far as the submission about the requirement of an Adharcard for booking a room in the guest house and for visiting the spa is concerned, even if that Adharcard is given that might have been given to the hotel staff and not the present applicant."
Therefore, at this juncture, when the trial has not commenced, all these facts cannot be said to be an admitted fact but these are the facts that are required to be proved by leading the evidence, he further observed.
"Considering the overall role of the present applicant as also considering the fact that this is not just a case of a simple love affair and failure of love affair resulted into crime but this is a case of a systematic conspiracy to trap a married lady, video graphed and by blackmailing her and raping her and thereafter, after having video graphed the entire incident when the amount of extortion to the tune of Rs 5,50,000/- was demanded and when mental and physical torture was so intense that the present complainant had made an attempt to commit suicide, considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the present application does not deserve any sympathy and therefore, this application is required to be dismissed and the same is dismissed. The rule is discharged," he added.